Interview: Bonnie Bernstein Talks March Madness, Sleeper Teams and Final Four

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By: Terrence Watson/ March 21, 2014

Bonnie Bernstein has covered everyone from the Bulls during the Michael Jordan era, to Tom Brady at the height of the New England Patriots title runs. Not to mention, years in the game as a sideline reporter covering NCAA Mens National Tournament. With that kind of resume, it seemed only right to catch up with her for a little insight on March Madness this year for her thoughts on everything from which teams are sure to burst some brackets to whether Andrew Wiggins can handle the biggest stage of his career.

VIBE: Which No.1 seed has the most likely chance to make the Final Four?

It’s open this year, but if you look at the brackets you have to think Wichita St. has the toughest road and Florida has the easiest. I don’t want to discredit UCLA and I love seeing a 6-foot-9 Kyle Anderson out there running point guard, but I don’t think the Bruins have enough defense to stop Florida. Syracuse makes it tough too, but, even though they had such a great start at 25-0, we don’t know which Syracuse team we’ll see.

Out of Virginia and Wichita St., who goes down first and in what round?

Well I think Wichita St. is going to go out in the third round. I don’t want to to discount a team that made history and went 32-0 on the season and I think that Gregg Marshall has done a masterful job at creating bulletin board material for his team and making his kids mentally tougher. It’s not about the quality of the competition, but the mental strength it takes to never play down to lesser competition. We don’t talk enough about that, being able to play at such a high level night in and night out. With that said, they get Kentucky next and while the Wildcats are young and inconsistent, they were a different team down the stretch of that SEC tournament. I felt like we watched them grow up.

Calipari says he’s simplified things in the offense for them and it seems to be working. When I look at them in that round I se Kentucky knocking off Wichita St. The Shockers have depth and rebound the ball well, but don’t know how they’ll match up with Kentucky’s talent.